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10 June 2004                               

 ## FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ##

Shantz Theatre Presents

THE VAN GOGH EXHIBIT

Despite relocating operations to Chicago, IL, Shantz Theatre is back for the 2004 Minnesota Fringe Festival. The Van Gogh Exhibit, by award winning playwright Matt Fotis, is a circular tale that follows the ripple effect from a traveling exhibit of Vincent Van Gogh.  The play satirizes and explores contemporary American society and values by examining, among other things, the interconnectedness of life, marriage, sexuality, postmodern politics, nostalgia, bus stations, and of course modern art. The Van Gogh Exhibit is as complex as the artist himself.

The Van Gogh Exhibit has been structurally influenced by Arthur Schnitzler's classic turn of the century (20th) play La Ronde (a sexual odyssey satirizing the social/sexual climate of 1890s Vienna that features a circular narrative structure) and the improvisational long form style LaRonde. Shantz Theatre's play is not an adaptation of Schnitzler's play (like David Hare's late 90's adaptation The Blue Room) but does follows a similar circular structure, but with a bit less sex. Only a bit.

The 2004 Fringe marks Shantz Theatre's third consecutive appearance in the Fringe festival.  In 2002 Shantz presented the critically acclaimed The Candid Biography of a Single Chess Table Chosen at Random on an Ambiguous Spring Day in Central Park (which saw an extended run at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theatre and then went onto a successful run at The Pittsburgh New Works Festival where it won a Donna Award) and followed it up in 2003 with the modern absurdist play The Diner Variations (which received 5 (out of 6) 5 star audience reviews).

What’s being said about Shantz Theatre?

“Fotis’s script enlivens both mundane and bizarre human interactions…[A] tightly acted composition that evokes the gamut of emotions” – City Pages

“Funny and…truly surprising.” –Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“The audience couldn’t help but belt out laughter.” –Augsburg Echo

“Banter…as fresh as if it were improvisation.” –Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“Everyone in the room was tearing with laughter.” –Augsburg Echo

“Funny…[and] socially relevant.” –The Daily News (Pittsburgh)

                                    Who:                Shantz Theatre 

                                    What:               The Van Gogh Exhibit

                                    When:              Aug 6^th @ 10pm

                                                            Aug 7^th @ 2:30pm

                                                            Aug 10^th @ 7:00pm

                                                            Aug 13^th @ 4:00pm

                                                            Aug 14^th @ 7:00pm

                                    Where:             Loring Playhouse

                                                            1635 Hennepin Ave. S.

                                                            Minneapolis, MN

                                    Tickets:            $12, call Uptown Tix for reservations at 612-604-4466.

For more information or for a show photograph visit us online at: http://www.ilstu.edu/~mnfotis/ShantzTheatre.html, or email Matt Fotis at shantztheatre@yahoo.com.

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